The stand-in full-back Jonny Lomax scored a hat-trick of tries as St Helens got their season up and running with a ruthless demolition of Bradford.

The decision by Nathan Brown, the Saints coach, to switch Lomax from scrum-half to full-back in the absence of the injured captain, Paul Wellens, proved to be a particularly inspired move.

Lomax opened the scoring with his first try after only two minutes after Jon Wilkin's kick had set up a repeat set of tackles. Willie Manu added a second, his first for the club, five minutes later, breaking through the first line of defence and wrong-footing full-back Brett Kearney, and it was quickly 16-0 when the prop Anthony Laffranchi took James Roby's short pass to crash over.

Unable to get a foothold in the game, it got worse for Bradford when Lomax took Wilkin's pass and jinked his way past flat-footed defenders for his second try on 23 minutes. Bradford did show some signs of life when the centre Matty Blythe and the scrum-half Jarrod Sammut went close but Saints extended their lead to 26-0 by half-time when prop Tony Puletua twisted and turned his way out of a three-man tackle to plant the ball on the line.

The Bulls pulled a try back six minutes into the second half when Blythe carved out an opening for Kearney but the respite was short-lived.

Lomax supported a break down the wing by Francis Meli to complete his hat-trick on 69 minutes and Wheeler kicked his fourth goal before winger Ade Gardner marked his first appearance of the season with the visitors' sixth try.

The Bulls were well beaten but they had the final say when winger Elliot Kear grabbed a last-minute try.

Brown said his decision to switch Lomax, 22, was hardly a stroke of genius. He explained: "He certainly played well. The best modern-day full-backs are half-backs. He's athletic, he can pass and kick and see the game well. I don't think it was a genius move. Jon [Wilkin] has played in the halves a lot of times for St Helens over the years. He's a very controlled player and he helps us play with a bit of composure."

Brown added that overall, he thought his side were improving. "From round one to four, we have definitely got better. I thought in the first 40 minutes we played with good discipline and control. We let ourselves down in the second half but we did things more consistently for longer today. I'm sure we'll improve again."

The Bradford coach, Francis Cummins, admitted his team had never been able to recover from their poor start. "We had very little possession in the first half hour. We spent too much time near our own goalline.

"You can't afford to play against the main teams without the ball. At the back end of the first half we asked some questions. We opened them up but couldn't finish off. I was pleased with the fightback and in the second half we were able to trade sets but we need more quality than that to beat St Helens."